Week 4 may have been a shortened week due to Independence Day, but it was just as busy as the first 3 weeks! This week we had our Writing Competition assignment due on Thursday. So naturally, I spent most of my time this week focusing on it.

On Monday, I started off my day by continuing my research and drafting of the Writing Competition assignment. The assignment was to write a motion to exclude the testimony of the opposing side’s expert witness in a breach of warranty case. During my research, I found myself struggling to find the “perfect” case to use in the motion. After searching and searching, I realized that I shouldn’t get hung up on this issue and needed to start drafting. One thing I found to help me during this assignment was to switch projects every few hours. When I would work on something for too long at once, I began to overthink things. Taking a break from one assignment to another helped me keep my mind fresh.

Tuesday was much of the same as Monday. I kept working on my motion to exclude the testimony of the opposing side’s expert. I also finished up research on an interesting project I received from partner Damien Orato on Monday. The research involved marital communication laws in Florida, New Mexico, and Federal jurisdictions.  Last year, New Mexico actually abolished the marital communication privilege. Therefore, any communication between spouses is no longer privileged. However, in Florida and federal jurisdictions, the marital communication privilege still exists. These little variations in law from state to state can have huge implications on your case, so it is important to find the differences between jurisdictions.

On Wednesday, I made some adjustments to a motion for entitlement to attorneys’ fees I worked on for partner Frank Sheppard. We wanted to have this motion submitted by Thursday, so I made sure to finish it up the day before we had to submit it. Later on Wednesday, partners Brett Carey, Chase Hattaway, and Steve Klein ate lunch with me. We all either brought food or went to the deli down the street to pick some food up, and ate in the conference room. We all made sure to follow social distancing guidelines because COVID-19 cases are beginning to rise in Florida again. As you can see from my selfie, taking a selfie while also following social distancing guidelines is not an easy task!

Thursday was the last day of the workweek because the office would be closed on Friday for Independence Day. Thursday was also my last chance to make edits to my motion, so it was a pretty hectic day. Around lunchtime, I was able to attend a Bankruptcy 101 seminar on Chapter 13 bankruptcy. It was a very interesting seminar that gave a great overview of bankruptcy practice. Thursday was also very exciting for me because the motion for entitlement to attorneys’ fees I worked on was submitted to the court!

Overall, week 4 may have been shorter, but it was just as jam-packed and exciting as any other week!